04/16/2025
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This is Richelle Brittain, formerly president of AFUNS. Since Kwami Abdul-Bey set me up as the admin of this page back in 2021, I have chosen to quietly maintain it essentially in case of emergency, even though AFUNS is no more. I believe that time is NOW. 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
After 8:30 this last evening, almost literally in the dead of night, the House State Agencies Committee gave a "do pass" to SB569, the very bill described in the post Arkansas Public Policy Panel made here earlier today. APPP head Bill Kopsky spoke against it, but the committee wouldn't listen. It will be on the House's agenda at 9 AM this morning, the last scheduled day of the legislative session. If it gets House approval by 2/3rds majority, it goes to the Governor; I fully expect she will sign it.
In my opinion this is arguably the MOST DANGEROUS legislation ever considered by the General Assembly (and we've seen some doozies, especially in the trans community which I'm a part of), not so much for WHAT it does as HOW it does it. Essentially, the bill asserts that the legislature can amend or repeal ANY amendment to the AR Constitution -- and by extension, almost ANY part of the Constitution itself -- by 2/3rds majority vote, WITHOUT going to the people for approval as the Constitution supposedly requires. THAT is absolute power, and as the old maxim says, it corrupts ABSOLUTELY.
Please call your state representative IMMEDIATELY at (501) 682-6211, or email them directly. Tell them SB569 is perhaps the WORST bill EVER to come out of the legislature and needs to be DEFEATED. It's possible as we only need 34 representatives voting ANYTHING other than "yes" (even "present" or not voting at all is effectively a "no") to stop this blatantly unconstitutional power grab. If this goes thru, not only will this go to court; I personally intend to dust off the lost 1912 recall amendment to the Constitution and try to have EVERY legislator who voted for it thrown out of office BEFORE the next election if possible. 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹
